Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom.

Note: Yeah I know, I've technically already done this story before but just hear me out because I really wanted to rewind to when my genderbent Danny first met Vlad at the reunion only this time I'm doing something entirely different. I'm basically re-imagined the story so Danielle will have a complex but non-romance relationship with Vlad and there will be some majorly altered plot points that will hopefully make things more interesting. But don't worry, there's still going to be plenty of angst.

Chapter 1: Two Halfa's Make A Whole

Vlad's POV

It was all coming together beautifully, after twenty long years of planning revenge against Jack the moment of truth had finally arrived. He was here in my castle at long last and even better his wife and two children were here as well to bear witness his ultimate failure and the utter humiliation I had in store for my former friend. Originally I planned to outright kill Jack, perhaps even turn him into the thing he hated most until I decided that no, ghost powers would be wasted on a buffoon like him even if it would have been so satisfying to see Maddie put him down like a rabid dog after returning as a ghost after his brutal murder.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face imagining the look on Jack's when he realizes he's about to lose everything he ever held dear that by all rights should have been mine. So unlike Jack, whom I regarded coldly because even I couldn't stomach being near the man any longer than I had to be, I was very cordial to my darling Maddie as she introduced her children to me.

First, there was the eldest son, a boy by the name of Jason with bright red hair, teal eyes, who was wearing a simple black shirt and muted teal pants. Then there was her daughter who I must say looked rather...ragged but Maddie didn't seem to notice as she happily introduced me to her. This young lady's name was Danielle and unlike her brother, she had long raven black hair similar to her father and a pair of matching blue eyes, although hers seemed a bit dull at the moment. Normally I'd write it off as simply being a moody teenager or what have you but something about Danielle seemed-

"Heads up V-Man!" Jack suddenly bellowed before tackling me to the ground unexpectedly while I was proudly showing the three of them my prized football signed by Ray Nitschke and it was only thanks to all my years of training that I did not instinctively go intangible to avoid the impact.

Glaring at him from the floor, I heard Jack laugh boastfully, "Ha! I see you've still got the old moves."

Standing up and snatching my football out of his fat sausage fingers, I snapped that I never had any old moves because of the accident that put me in the hospital for years because of HIM! And again, if not for my level of self-restraint my eyes probably would have glowed a hellish red and ruined everything. Thankfully I managed to recompose myself and after doing so changed my tune and pretended to thank Jack for putting me on this path to become the richest man in the world. No doubt I still could have without ghost powers, however, it did come with a few perks once I learned how to control my gifts.

Either way, my outburst seemed to have unsettled Maddie who took a few steps closer to her children, wondering if it might be best to leave and that's when I saw Danielle's expression change. It seemed as though she wanted to say something and looked between her mother and for whatever reason me before her shoulders dropped and she settled for staring at the floor. How odd, did that mean this girl actually wanted to stay? Regardless I needed them to stay for my plan to work so I acted like nothing was wrong and insisted they stay, even bringing up the Dairy King as bait since I knew Jack would be unable to resist the allure of ghost hunting in a possibly haunted castle.

As expected it worked like a charm and Jack practically ran back outside to unpack their belongings by himself and his wife moved to follow, as did Jason but Danielle lingered for a moment and sighed before saying something I hardly expected to hear, "Sorry about my dad, he's just really excited to see you but are you ok Mr. Masters? That looks like it must've hurt."

"No need to fret my dear, I'm quite alright," I smiled, ruffling her hair. "And please, call me Vlad."

"If you say so," she began, looking outside the door which Jack had carelessly left wide open with this strange air of unease when her parents pulled out what appeared to be a small arsenal of anti-ghost weaponry.

"Is everything alright Danielle? You seem nervous," I asked, only trying to appear polite when I could really care less, though I'll admit her concern for my well-being was touching.

Smiling up at me she replied, "I'm just tired, it was a...long trip." Her tone turning somber as Danielle shifted and rubbed her arm nervously, just as her parents began making their way back inside she asked, "Hey if you have some free time later there's something I wanted to ask you privately if that's ok. I know you're probably busy with the reunion but-"

"Danielle, what are you standing around for? Go get your things," Maddie began harshly and I stared at her, taken aback by the uncharacteristically crass tone she was using.

The rest of them had already brought their belongings in and I'm surprised that even Danielle's brother didn't waste any time asking me where his room was and they left her there without a second thought to slowly walk outside again. I have never seen such blatant disregard from Maddie before and if I did not have more pressing matters myself such as setting everything up for tomorrow, I would have sent someone to assist Danielle at the very least because even I'm not that cruel. Clearly, tensions were high between them for some unknown reason but if everything went according to plan, very soon Danielle would be my daughter and I would not let a child of mine be treated in such a way even by her own mother.

With that in mind, upon Danielle's return, I placed my hand on her shoulder and smiled, "I apologize for the interruption but to answer your earlier question I would be more than happy to speak to you again later my dear if time permits. For the time being though you should get some rest and I will send someone to fetch you for dinner in a couple of hours. Now your room is upstairs and to the far left so all you have to do is look for the door across from the library which is marked by two sets of armor. I trust you can find your way there on your own?"

"Yeah, I'll manage. Thanks though," Danielle replied with a hint of bitterness as she added under her breath, "Guess I'm going to have just get used to playing the lone wolf in my family too..."

Ignoring her last comment which I only heard thanks to my ghost hearing I watched as Danielle slowly made her way upstairs and again, I couldn't shake this feeling that something was off about this girl. Obviously, nothing was going to get in the way of my plans tonight but I had time to humor the poor girl. And from the looks of it, she could use the company. After all, I know all too well what it is like to feel alone and like no one understands you because every teenager goes through this. However, the moment I became half-ghost that took on an entirely new meaning since there is no one else like me in the entire world, and there never will be...

Or so I thought.

Danielle's POV

Ever since dad told us Vlad's story on the way here I couldn't keep it off of my mind, but at the same time, I was scared out of my mind to ask him about the accident because there was always the risk of him putting two and two together about me once I brought up that I had one just like it. But that's just it, lately, I've been feeling more alone than ever because my friends don't understand what it's like at all to suddenly wake up with ghost powers in a house with TWO ghost hunters. I was uncomfortable around all those weapons growing up sure, but up until recently I wasn't afraid of them actually being used on me.

Not only that, but almost every day a new ghost keeps showing up and it's been getting harder and harder to keep up with them. Then there's school and my friends getting mad at me for not finding the time to hang out with them. It's not that I didn't want to, it's just that I needed the sleep because unlike ghosts I do need it and besides I needed to figure out how my powers worked so they'd stop going off randomly and setting off all my parent's ghost detection devices because one of these days they're going to actually work properly and then its bye bye Dani Phantom.

I didn't mind at first that my parents are always busy, but ever since they saw me in ghost form at school and it 'rekindled' their passion for ghost hunting, it's like that's all they care about anymore, and when they finally do notice me its because I'm doing something wrong. They never ask how school went anymore unless there was a test that day and they saw the crappy grades on my report card. That's why we're even here to begin with...

Jason decided to get his nose out of a book long enough to chime in when mom and dad were ripping me a new one for missing curfew by a measly five minutes instead of just asking them to cut me some slack and treating me like one of his stupid charity cases. But I'm not some test subject for him to analyze either, I'm his sister! I just wanted him to go back to being overprotective and not acting like I'm his ward from a mental hospital that needed therapy and serious drugs to fix my gloomy mood. Well, news flash I'm not gloomy, that's Sam's thing since he's a goth, I'm just tired!

I'm so tired of constantly fighting ghosts, arguing with my friends and parents and feeling like I don't have anyone to talk to anymore. I thought I could make the most of having these ghost powers by protecting people but it's a lot harder than I realized and to be fair this is supposed to be my parent's job, not mine. That said I didn't want them to get hurt if I took a night off. In fact, some wack job sent a trio of vultures -and by that, I mean literal ghost vultures- after my dad. I don't know who would do that because as far as I know they don't have any ghost enemies like I do so I could only assume they were gunning after my family to get to me somehow.

I still needed to figure that out but I wasn't about to in a place like this. I needed to stay on my toes though in case those bird-brains showed up again too so I figured I should rest while I can while mom and dad are in ghost hunting mode anyway and patrolling the castle in search of that Dairy King guy. Vlad probably just made him up to stop us from leaving, or more specifically my mom from leaving since he seemed to have a thing for her but whatever, she's already taken and nothing is going to change that.

Still, a part of me hoped that maybe Vlad would at least be able to understand some of what I've been going through lately even if he doesn't have ghost powers. I also really wanted to hear his side of the story because I'm curious what sort of person Vlad is. He's so rich now but does he have any friends besides my parents? Like real friends that aren't after his money or jealous of it the way my friend Trish keeps getting jealous of my ghost powers?

Pfft, she can have them because I'd rather be dealing with the normal stress of being bullied by the cheerleaders at school again instead of wondering if I'll survive to see the next sunrise half the time. Either way, this might be my only chance to talk to Vlad since I seriously doubt we're going to be visiting again any time soon. He seems to still hold a grudge against my dad and I've never even heard of Vlad until recently. It might be none of my business and I didn't want to bring up any painful memories but like I said I'm sick of feeling like this. Feeling like no one understands me.

Anyways, I managed to make it to my room ok but as soon as I shut the door it's like the weight of everything I've been dealing with lately turned my feet into led. I barely even made it to the bed before I melted into the comforter and fell fast asleep. It wasn't a restful sleep by any means, but these days, I'll take what I can get. After all, I'm on my own and there's no one here to hold my hand. Not my parents, not my friends, nobody. And the thought of that was so sad that in my sleep, a few tears dampened the pillow beneath me as the only indication that deep down I was hurting like I imagine Vlad must have all those years in the hospital which only now can I actually relate to...